Conversations with the River, the Birds, the Trees, the People

silenced….

That was so eerie! When I came down to the river last Thursday after the heavy storms, I didn’t see one bird on the river, didn’t hear any bird chirps in the tree. A lonely, fluffed up Peregrine perched high in the trees. His usual tree companions, the CORMORANTS, had fled the scene. After this unfeathered experience I can tell you this: I do NOT like a world without birds! The river was dealing with a King tide, which was viciously hammering the Boardwalk wall with huge tree trunks. Silenced by the hypnotizing Nature display, several people & I were unable to tear ourselves away from Nature’s unleashed power.

tree trunks battering the Boardwalk wall

Talking about Boardwalk quandaries: did I tell you what those huge plastic covered piles are, which are sitting forlorn across the Trellis parking lot? The piles are contaminated sand, excavated due to the Seaside Co. construction by the Coconut Grove. The sand’s fate will be determined by the upcoming test results while the plastic sheeting is preventing any potential environmental harm. So far I have been unable to find out what exactly contaminated the sand. As soon as I have some factual info, I let you know.

contaminated sand piles…

The river is full of seals. I have counted 12 seals in the river between the Trellis and Laurel bridge stretch, while 14 were dreaming their morning away on the cliff rocks. Their underwater locations can be detected by the bird’s behavior. As the seals advance under the water the bird sits more pertly on the water surface and tends to not dive. I swear the seals goose the birds from underneath, because sometimes they nearly levitate on the water and swim very quickly in an other direction. And sure enough a seal surfaces close by.

bird escaping a seal goosing…

My recent IMP information blitz showed that most people didn’t realize that the Culvert is seasonally installed and that the horizontal pipe serves as a weir. It’s important to keep in mind: this Pilot Program is testing the Culvert to find out if it is a viable Lagoon solution, which is not guaranteed at this stage. A while back I had brought up the question: ‘How could the Harbor jetties have an impact on the river mouth?’ Here is one explanation: the Harbor jetties stick out from the shoreline thus act as a sand flow barrier and the accumulative shoreline sand back up resulted in wider beaches at the Seabright Beach, river mouth and Main Beach. This is comparable to bridge piles IN the riverbed, which impact the downstream sediment flow since the piles hinder the river’s natural movement. The sediment builds up behind the piles, creating upstream consequences, which effect the fish population, who are unable to find proper hatch locations, making the fish experts cringe.

female OSPREY beauty

Yesterday a female OSPREY was in the 3rd St. Cypress. As I got closer to the Trellis bridge I heard an OSPREY call from the Eucalyptus trees. I instantly swirled around to see if the Cypress OSPREY had relocated and she hadn’t. I rushed closer to the bridge trees and spotted a fine male OSPREY perched on his favorite branch. He was still announcing himself with that exotic call they have. Wouldn’t it be great to have a pair of OSPREY nesting along the San Lorenzo River? The CROWS better behave themselves and leave the OSPREY couple alone.

I am excited to let you know that the Estuary project is in the phase of building a core group of people, who are eager to get their hands dirty with Levee Vegetation Restoration. The Estuary proposal is presented by the Valley Women Club Native Restoration Committee with the purpose to bring the upper and lower San Lorenzo River communities together. Do you know people, who would enjoy getting their hands dirty on the river Levee? Thank you for sending them my way via my Facebook page or leaving a blog comment with contact info.

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One thought on “silenced….”

Hello Jane! I wanted to let you know that the mallards have been happily exploring all the open water channels in the Jessie street Marsh right now, the trees and shrubs are full of migrants, and the waterways are full of tadpoles. It’s a quieter refuge while the river mouth is raging. The loveliest time year.